Cammell Laird continues to steam forward with a 53% rise in profits

Shipbuilder Cammell Laird continued a recent run of good news with a 53% increase in pre-tax profits to £16m on turnover up 26% in the year to 30 April. The company announced last week it had signed a deal to lease three docks at the French port of Marseilles. One of the docks includes the […]

Shipbuilder Cammell Laird continued a recent run of good news with a 53% increase in pre-tax profits to £16m on turnover up 26% in the year to 30 April.

The company announced last week it had signed a deal to lease three docks at the French port of Marseilles. One of the docks includes the largest ship repair facility in Europe. As part of the deal the firm also bought the port’s main repair company.

`This move into Europe is strategically important to us and marks the first major step towards the globalisation of the group,’ Juan Kelly, chairman of Cammell Laird said.

He said the company’s businesses had grown in activity and profits during the year, with the Birkenhead shipyard continuing to make the strongest contribution towards group profits.

The year has seen a number of successes for Cammell, including the world’s largest cruise ship conversion – the £53m upgrade of the Costa Classica, for Italian cruise operator Costa Crociere.

Kelly said: `Our core markets of commercial, offshore and military are all showing strong growth. This, together with our increased international capacity, gives us cause for optimism.’

The company, which had one dry dock in 1996 now has 10 shipyards, 3,000 employees and access to 30 dry docks.